NOV. 7 – Last week I heard about quite a bit of new interest in portfolio protection strategies, and on November 4 the CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®) rose on a ninth consecutive day (a new all-time record for the VIX Index over its price history dating back to January 1990). However, today (the date before […]

OCTOBER 7. 2016 – On the night of September 26 a debate-record 84 million people tuned in to watch the first of three U.S. Presidential debates. During the debate there were movements in the prices of futures on the CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®), S&P 500® futures, and the Mexican peso (see below for a chart […]

On Thursday, September 22 at 2:00 p.m. E.T., S&P Dow Jones Indices and CBOE will co-host a complimentary webinar for financial professionals on the topic of — How are Institutional Investors Using VIX®? Financial professionals who wish to register and see more information are welcome to visit this link — http://bit.ly/VIX-Sep22. The panel will cover: […]

The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®) rose 49.3% on June 24, after the results of the Brexit referendum were announced. The VIX Index is a key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500® stock index option prices. FUTURES ON THE VIX INDEX On June 24 the CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE®) announced […]

JUNE 24, 2016 – Prices for certain futures contracts on the CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®) rose more than 60% during the early part of the June 24 trading day, as more updates about the anticipated results of the Brexit referendum were divulged. At around 12:45 am ET on June 24 — (1) the VIX Weekly […]

Below are updates on (1) VIX futures, (2) SPXW Wednesday-Expiring Weekly options, and (3) the BPVIX Index. (1.) RECORD OPEN INTEREST. Futures on the CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®), which launched in 2004, experienced some milestones regarding open interest in recent days – VIX futures open interest surpassed 500,000 for the first time on June 6; […]

On Monday the CBOE/CME FX British Pound Volatility Index (BPVIX) closed at 22.59, its highest daily close since March 2009, and the BPVIX Index has risen 161.8% so far this year (through June 6). A number of news articles have noted that the implied volatility for British Pound has risen during the past month because […]

Yesterday afternoon at the 41st Annual International Futures Industry Conference in Boca Raton, CBOE and S&P Dow Jones Indices teamed up for a session highlighting the growing use of VIX around the world. Reid Steadman from S&P Dow Jones Indices offered a brief welcome address where he noted the various markets where participants have access to […]

The first week of 2016 was a challenging one for many financial markets worldwide, as (1) It was the worst opening week of the year in history for both the S&P 500® (SPX) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, (2) The Shenzhen Composite Index of Chinese stocks fell 14.2%, (3) Crude oil futures (Feb. WTI) […]

This month I am planning to travel to the First Annual CBOE Risk Management Conference (RMC) Asia, which will be held on November 30 – December 1 at the JW Marriott Hotel, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong. In my preparations for the trip, I am analyzing the skew charts for a number of option […]